Description: A three-credit investigative physiology lab (Experimental Physiology, BISC316) is offered to biology upper classmen once they have completed the prerequisite lecture course, General Physiology (BISC306). The crux of the laboratory investigation revolves around the role of the dermal melanophores in killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus), and the students address in a series of experiments their own research question that is based on the primary literatures.
Since the adoption of the new curriculum in Experimental Physiology, this pigment cell research has been shared with another investigative lab course (Experimental Cell Biology, BISC315) where students extend research questions at cellular and molecular level. Currently, the same research topic has been explored in an introductory biology course (BISC207) as an end of semester research project.
In this poster, some of the student works from the upper-level investigative lab courses as well as the freshman biology course will be illustrated.